Proper technique and coordinated muscle activation is critical for athletes seeking to perform biomechanical correct movements in sports. Athletes are constantly working on improving their proprioception—the sense of the relative position of neighbouring parts of the body and strength of effort being employed in movement—to master sport-specific movements. While there is no substitute for proper conditioning and training, certain aids have been developed to assist athletes with the enhancement of proprioception.
In some cases, such aids have come in the form of a garment to be worn by the athlete during the performance of certain movements. In its most basic form, such a garment may be made of a stretchable or elastic fabric and is intended to be worn tightly on the body in a form-fitting manner (in some cases, this garment is fashioned as compression garment). Because of the resistance encountered by the wearer as a result of the stretch in the fabric, the wearer tends to become more aware of the relative position of his limbs. While this type of garment can enhance proprioception, it tends not to be anatomically focused and thus tends not to perform a genuine orthopedic function.
United States Patent Application Publication No. US 2009/0062704 of Brown et al. provides an example of a garment designed specifically for proprioceptively treating a wearer. The garment is preferably configured like a short-sleeved undershirt or T-shirt and may be fabricated of a stretchable material to achieve the desired form-fitting fit. The garment includes an anterior portion and a posterior portion joined to the anterior portion. Each of the anterior portion and the posterior portion are fabricated of a thin, elastomeric material. The material used is form-fitting to allow pressure to be applied to the surface of the wearer's skin to enhance neuromuscular stimulation. Integrated with the posterior garment portion, is a proprioceptive panel. This panel is positioned to extend over the upper back or inter scapular region of the wearer. In one embodiment, the proprioceptive panel is positioned to extend along substantially an entire length of the spine of the wearer. In still another embodiment, the proprioceptive panel is generally triangular in shape, and is positioned to extend downwardly from the shoulders of the wearer toward an apex positioned to be disposed at approximately the small of the wearer's back. The proprioceptive panel may be fabricated of the same elastomeric material as the posterior portion or may be made of a heavier, more dense elastomeric material than that used for the posterior portion.
The garment described in United States Patent Application Publication No. US 2009/0062704 of Brown et al. appears to be specifically configured to enhance proprioception in the wearer for the purposes of improving or enhancing posture. To this end, it uses strategically placed proprioceptive panels that primarily target muscles and other anatomical structures of the wearer's back. While this garment may be effective at providing some back support and may assist in the improvement of the wearer's posture, it tends to be too narrowly focused on the muscles of the back to be a useful aid to athletes performing complex movements which recruit other muscle groups of the upper body.
Accordingly, there is a genuine need for a garment which is capable of providing enhanced anatomically appropriate proprioceptive (and kinesthetic) feedback to the wearer for various muscle groups of the upper body, including those of the chest, back, shoulders and arms. Advantageously, such a garment could help athletes perfect their technique or form in performing complex sport-specific movements which recruit multiple muscle groups of the upper body. A garment of this nature would tend to be a very versatile aid to athletes.